Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Just when you thought the imaginary polar bear crisis couldn’t get any sillier;
Scientists hatch bold plan to save polar bears
It will take more than bear chow to keep the animals alive in the wild.
by David Cox / Feb.27.2018 / 6:37 PM ET
For the past two decades, scientists have been monitoring the effects of a warming Arctic on the world’s polar bears — and the bears’ future has looked increasingly bleak.
The latest estimates suggest that Arctic sea ice is disappearing by 14 percent a decade, drastically limiting the bears’ ability to hunt the seals on which they feed. And research on bears living on the Arctic islands of Svalbard shows that the animals are now reproducing at a rate one-fifth of that seen just 20 years ago.
Given these dismal statistics, scientists now predict that the global population of polar bears could fall from 20,000 to 30,000 today to fewer than 5,000 by 2100 — and beyond that no one knows. Even if a small population of bears manage to hang on, they’re not out of the woods.
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For 5,000 bears to survive in this region (the minimum thought to be required to prevent inbreeding), scientists believe the animals may need help from humans. Derocher envisions helicopters zipping around the region, dropping bear chow. Without such deliveries, he says, hungry bears might wander south into human settlements — and risk being shot.
Airdrops of bear chow wouldn’t come cheap. Derocher estimates that delivering enough chow to sustain those 5,000 bears could cost the Canadian government $2 million a month. Given the hefty price tag, he proposes that the chow be used only during times when the bears are finding it especially difficult to catch and kill seals.
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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/scientists-hatch-bold-plan-save-polar-bears-ncna851356
The NBC news article also suggests using artificial insemination on grizzly bear surrogates to maintain polar bear numbers. Lets just say I’m not going to be head of the queue to apply for that job.
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Eric:
Someone needs to collect quality semen from prime polar bears…
Ideally, that semen is not contaminated with knock out drugs or other chemicals, so the collector needs to work with conscious bears.
I nominate Derocher, Amstrup and Manniacal for the provocative post of seductive polar bear stimulators.
They can even keep their bear suits after successfully inseminating 5,000+ polar bears.
If they’re unable to easily identify a polar bear’s sex, a few winters of ensuring polar bear prolificacy should teach even the densest alarmists.
Thank for the laughter. A couple suggestions on my part:
1 – Do not feed the polar bears. If you leave them alone, they’ll get hungry again and eat the alarmist scientists. Solves two problems at one go.
2 – Be kind to the Greenbeans and Warmians. They never go outside unless there are TV cameras for a rally or a parade. Tell them it’s 85F outside, even if it’s really 35F. They’re dumb enough to believe you and can’t tell the difference, anyway.
Good picture of Churchill Town Dump…..
Yikes, thats a little close for comfort. I think I’ll add “polar bear photographer” to my list of jobs I’ll never do…
Doesnt look like they recycle with all the paper mixed in with the garbage….You know we live in a wealthy society when even in the middle of no where they dont at least burn the paper for heat….
While on a day trip from a cruise around southeast alaska several years ago, our guide for the afternoon told us that there were three types of bears that could be found in Alaska – the black bear, the brown bear (aka grizzly), and the polar bear.
He said that if you come upon a bear in Alaska, the best way to determine what kind of bear you have is to quickly climb the nearest tree.
If the bear climbs right up the tree after you, it’s a black bear.
If the bear stands at the base of the tree and shakes it until you fall out, it’s a brown bear.
If there aren’t any trees, it’s a polar bear.
What are they trying to do, create a cargo cult of polar bears?
When it is snow and cold causing threat to life, there doesn’t seem to be the same concern. http://www.dailyinterlake.com/front_page_slider/20180227/blackfeet_reservation_buried_by_blizzards
Derocher estimates
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What really frosts me is the tax dollars wasted on this sort of drivel pretending to. be science.
now prime minister TrueNo is going to give an another 2 billion for more of this “scientific research”.
while at the same time, in the name of gender inequality he is giving nothing to day care.
if TrueNo actually gave a damn about women he would actually do something other than tell us how the budget has been gender certified.
if the state of science in Canada shows anything it is that there will always be scientists ready and willing to prove anything in return for grant money.
It isn’t legal to feed bears in Yellowstone Park (regardless of species)!
Why is it legal to feed these beasts that apparently are expanding without any additional food?
Who are the idiots here?